Roots Archives Forum

Are there any producers or engineers (bit vague, but I'm talking specifically about the people who shaped the sound) whose work you always look out for? Instead of searching for things you haven't heard by following up on singers/players whose work you enjoy, do many of you prefer to search for (and catalogue) your Jamaican music according to who the producers/engineers were?

Maybe this applies more to dub, but certain producers/engineers clearly had their own signature sounds (Lee Perry and his phaser during the 70s being the most obvious example). Are there any 'signature sounds' you're hooked on, and any recommendations of slightly obscure producers/engineers/sounds?

(Apologies for rambling, by the way. Just curious as to how the fine people here follow their music...)

You simply can't go wrong with records having combinations like

producer / engineer
Bunny Lee / King Tubby
Bunny Lee / Prince Jammy
Coxsone Dodd / Sylvan Morris
Joe Gibbs / Errol Thompson
Treasure Isle (Reid or Pottinger) / Errol Brown
Bertram Brown / King Tubby

off course there are more...

I noticed an obituary to Joe Gibbs in The Guardian newspaper today. It's online here if anyone interested:

http://music.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/ ... 66,00.html

i n i cant get enough of wackies label chunes. lloyd barnes got such a unique urban feel onto those records no one else even comes close to.

Don't forget about Scientist's work with Linval Thompson and Junjo.

Hey Jonti,
to answer your question: i think most reggae-buyers take a good look at the producers/engineers of an album because when you know the sound of a producer you'll most likely won't be disappointed with other works of him. Especially because often everybody else involved with the production of the sound sticked to a studio and producer; most studios had as well an inhouse band - Upsetters, Sound Dimension, Roots Radics to name a few. So if you want to know what a record might sound like you're probably better off with the producer (instead of the singer).